Technology in the Pre-School

Gone are the days of paper scrap books and reports. Queen Margaret College has introduced online learning platform, Storypark, in the Pre-School which has revolutionised the way teachers document a child’s learning.

The Pre-School has been buzzing with new changes over the last year as our youngest members of the College have settled into their new purpose-built building.

One of the key developments has been the introduction of online resource, Storypark.

Storypark enables Pre-School educators, parents and extended family to be involved with a child’s learning by recording photos, videos and comments on a private, cloud-based network.

Although it has some similarities, Storypark is the opposite to a social network because only selected admin are able to access a child’s profile.

Teachers produce a profile for a child and invite the parents to be administrator, who can then in turn invite any family members they also wish to access the children’s learning.

Parent Angela Henry has been using Storypark since 2016 to find out about what daughter Addison has been learning in Pre-School.

“I find it easy to access particularly on my iphone or ipad,” she says.

“I can view all the new postings/stories that the teachers post during the day and also view all her previous stories/photos at any time as well.”

Angela says the resource has been extremely useful, especially being a full-time working parent.

“We can see how Addy is doing at school and see what she and her classmates have been up to,” Angela says.

“It is so lovely seeing photos of them – it makes you feel part of your child’s day and then when we pick her up at the end of the day, we can ask about what we have seen on Storypark.”

Head of Pre-School Emily Domican says one of the advantages of Storypark is that all administrators can contribute to the profile.

“Parents can not only provide instant feedback to teachers but they can also add their own learning stories – for example: a child’s first bike ride,” Emily comments.

She says the programme is very efficient and practical, freeing up time for teachers.

“It also gives us instant feedback from parents which is very useful.”